What a long, strange trip it’s been…
by Emmy Hime
Summary: A mystery/romance about a past that brought horror and sadness to one woman's life, but she now has a chance to change it... Can she or is she too afraid to relive the memories again?


I've been away for awhile… So, here goes nothing! ^.~

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"What a long strange trip it's been…" Kaoru mutters to herself as she turns her head to the side and looks out the window for the first time in ages. The storm clouds rumble past with a frustrated grumble before settling once more into an angry churning mass of grey. She shakes her head gently before resting it in the palm of her cupped hand. Her fingers blindly running across the worn skin of her face as she purses her lips in thought. It had been two years since her life had been so thoroughly ruined, and she would never be able to forget the pain those two years had wrought on her life.

Her azure eyes disappear behind her leathery lids as she rest her lashes against her cheek. Yahiko was dead, and Sanosuke might as well be. But all that didn't matter now, she was alive and that was all that counted; even though, her life was in the shits.

She curls her finger around the scar on her jaw. It still tingled with memories of that fateful day, and she couldn't help but trace a painted nail down the length of its surface. The memories jolting back to her in a wave of sorrow, anger, and passion.

Suddenly the phone rings with a blaring "BRRRRIIIIIIING!!!" Kaoru lets out a startled cry and rocks forward in her chair and grabs the smooth surface of the phone. The sounds of the office coming back to her in a crash of noise as the people around her, the phones, and the sound of printers brings her back to the here and now.

"Moshi Moshi," she says quickly as she presses the rippled earpiece to her ear.

"Yo! Kaoru-san, I called like fifteen minutes ago, but you didn't pick up. Any reason for that?" Saitou's barking voice comes through the phone, and she can't help but wince and rub her temples.

"Sorry boss, I was faxing some things out to the Kyoto office," she replies quickly as she tries to keep the bite out of her voice. She hated Saitou with every fiber of her being, but he was her boss and there was nothing she could do about it. But, she wasn't going to be his obedient dog and jump through hoops for him.

He lets out a loud sigh before replying to her, "I need you down Ueno Park. A.S.A.P,"

"Hai Hai Saitou-sama!" She replies putting as much sarcasm in her voice as possible before slamming the phone back into its cradle. "Prick…" she mutters under her breath and pushes some of her ebony bangs out of her eyes. Why she stayed in this job she would never know, but she knew it was to be close to him.

She glances at the one photo on her desk and feels a watery smile grace her face. His red hair forever shining in that one moment caught in time. His smile infectious as it always was… She reaches out and touches the cold glass before standing up and pulling on her jacket. That was all in the past, she had to move on. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before marching out of the office with a determined look on her face. She was no longer that weak girl that had fallen so deeply in love with that man. She was stronger, wiser, and perhaps colder.

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She slams the door of her mini cooper as she trudges out into the snow glad for her warm winter boots. Her azure eyes scanning the pristine location before catching sight of what Saitou had called her here for.

The snow where Saitou's crew was working was no longer beautiful and untouched. Footprints littered the brownish sludge that they had trudged up with their heavily booted feet. Of course, it wasn't just dirt that ruined the perfect scene at Ueno Park. It was also the blood that was sprayed across the glistening surface.

Kaoru takes a moment to take a deep breath in before moving over and sliding under the yellow crime scene tape after flashing her badge. She takes a moment to fully absorb the scene before shaking her head. The man's body was lying beneath the slumbering cherry tree. His head tilted to the side and his eyelids closed as if he was just sleeping, but the wounds that had sliced through her once well put together ensemble said that he was clearly dead.

She creeps closer before stopping four feet from the body. Her eyes taking in the corpse from a closer distance. The man's lips were a faint shade of blue, and his fingers had begun to turn a brilliant shade of dark purple. Clearly, the body had been out here most of the night and must have been found earlier this morning.

Glancing at her wrist watch, she determines the time would have more than likely been around seven AM. Some business man on his way to work would have found this horror and called it in. So, it was nine o'clock now and the body must have been out here for another two hours. Rigor would have set in and that would suggest why they had yet to move him. Rigor and being frozen would make this man a hard man to move.

Kaoru clucks her tongue and turns from the gruesome site to find Saitou standing at her haunches and waiting for opinion.

"It looks like his M.O," she says softly. Her body steeling itself against this emotional blow. Unsure if she could take it… take another hit to her heart as she had done once more. "It must have been…" she pauses and takes a deep breath ready to say the last but Saitou finishes up for her.

"The Battousai," he says.

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Sorry that was so short guys, and I'm sorry I killed Yahiko. Please be kind and review!

^.~ Thanks


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